Much has been made about last night's presidential address. None more important than the pending split between Bush and the conservative Right due to extreme fiscal irresponsibility. More inside.
The following comments during last night's address has floored many conservatives around the nation:
Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely -- so we'll have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures.
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As all of us saw on television, there's also some deep, persistent poverty in this region, as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.
This and the reported costs of reconstruction nearing $300 billion, have highlighted an increasing divide among the Right. Conservatives are directly opposed to such notions as 'solving' poverty and other social programs remniscent of the New Deal.
Today, the New York Times reports:
On Thursday, even before President Bush promised that "federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone," fiscal conservatives from the House and Senate joined budget watchdog groups in demanding that the administration be judicious in asking for taxpayer dollars.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK):
"I don't believe that everything that should happen in Louisiana should be paid for by the rest of the country. I believe there are certain responsibilities that are due the people of Louisiana."
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) called for fiscal sanity:
"We know we need to help, but throwing more and more money without accountability at this is not going to solve the problem."
Speaker Dennis Hastert noted that "for every dollar we spend on this, it is going to take a little bit longer to balance the budget."
This leads many to believe that unless Republicans reassess this year's appropriations bills, much of their agenda may have to be iced. Plans like repealing the estate tax, making Bush's tax cuts permanent and Social Security privatization may be nixed due to the current extreme budget strain.
A senior House Republican commented on Bush's speech on condition of anonymity:
"We are not sure he knows what he is getting in to."
Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO) called Bush's reconstruction plan a 'budget disaster.'
Conservative think-tanks have already come out against the Right's fiscal irresponsibility.
The American Conservative Union, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots conservative organization, recently commented on Bush's and the Republican-controlled Congress' reconstruction plans:
"Clearly, the terrible tragedy resulting from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina will require substantial federal resources to be expected, and all Americans support this relief effort. But the idea that Congress should spend tens of billions of dollars on this relief effort in the absence of reprioritzing overall spending makes absolutely no sense."
ACU Chairman David Keene continues:
"Excluding military and homesland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression.
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"Because of these massive increases in federal largess, conservatives throughout the United States are increasingly losing faith in the President and the Republican [l]eadership in Congress to adequately prioritize and rein in overall federal spending."
In early August, nearly a month before Hurricane Katrina hit and the budget became even more strained, the ACU passed a resolution calling on Bush and the GOP Congress to reduce debt that is being 'inexcusably passed on to future generations.'
Pat Toomey, head of conservative Club for Growth, adds:
"There has never been a time where there is more total spending and more wasteful spending in Washington than we have today. There is ample opportunity to find the offsets we need so that this does not have to be a fiscal disaster as well as a natural disaster."
This split has come under increased scrutiny due to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's declared 'ongoing victory' in excessive federal spending. But what about a $223 million bridge to nowhere? Or, how about $1.5 million for a heated bus stop? Or $50 million for an indoor rainforest? Or $200,000 for a peanut festival? Or $240,000 for potato research? Or $300,000 for a parking garage?
Increasingly, both Bush and the GOP-controlling Congress is losing its support and its connection to reality.